John Nokari (1881 - 1975)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during John's lifetime.

In 1881, in the year that John Nokari was born, on November 19th, a meteorite landed a few miles southwest of Odessa, Ukraine. According to one report: "About 7 o'clock one morning a bright and serpentine tail of fire was seen passing over the town by the inhabitants of Odessa, and M. Prendel, editor of one of the Odessa papers, surmising that the phenomenon betokened a fall of meteorites, offered a reward to any person who would bring him one. Three days afterward a gentleman of Grossliebental brought him one which had been found by a peasant who was nearly frightened out of his senses at its fall. It fell beside him while at work in his field and buried itself .55 meters (almost 2 ft) into the ground." The recovered piece was about 17.5 lbs.

In 1902, John was 21 years old when about 150 thousand United Mine Workers went on strike in eastern Pennsylvania for a wage increase and more suitable hours. They eventually got a 10% raise and their workday was reduced from 10 hours to 9. Because winter was coming and most people at the time heated their homes with coal, President Teddy Roosevelt arbitrated between the owners and the workers - the first time that the Federal government arbitrated in a strike.

In 1937, by the time he was 56 years old, on May 6th, the German zeppelin the Hindenburg caught fire and blew up. The Hindenburg was a passenger ship traveling to Frankfurt Germany. It tried to dock in New Jersey, one of the stops, and something went wrong - it blew up. Thirty-six people were killed out of the 97 on board - 13 passengers, 22 crewmen, and one ground worker. The reasons for the explosion are still disputed.

In 1967, he was 86 years old when on November 7th, President Johnson signed legislation passed by Congress that created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which would later become PBS and NPR. The legislation required CPB to operate with a "strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs of a controversial nature".

In 1975, in the year of John Nokari's passing, on September 5th, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme tried to assassinate President Ford in Sacramento, California. She failed when her gun wouldn't fire. President Ford escaped a second assassination attempt 17 days later on September 22 when Sarah Jane Moore tried to shoot him in San Francisco. A bystander saw her raise her arm, grabbed it, and the shot went wild.